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Fabricating Flowers of Mindfulness: Cultivating Inner Seeds in Sangha
A baby born without crying simply opened his eyes and looked at the world with fresh curiosity; a nun facing leukemia practiced the Heart Sutra so deeply that she died without fear and smiled; and another child, seeing the blue sky for the first time, felt two seconds of fear give way to spontaneous joy. Thay likens children—and adults who preserve their “flowerness”—to blooms offering beauty and freshness to the world. Through stories of the little boy who became “Sun My Heart” and monastic youths like the sixteen-year-old Sister Kính Nghiêm, he shows that meditation helps us stay young, beautiful, and at ease in every moment.
Meditation is described as the art of fabricating flowers and fruits of peace, understanding, and love—just as an orange tree produces blossoms and fruit. Whether in walking meditation, eating breakfast in silence, jogging mindfully or ringing the bell of mindfulness, every action becomes a way to nourish solidity, freedom, joy, and compassion. Practicing together in a Sangha multiplies this energy, turning retreats into powerful collective cultivation where every step and every morsel reveals the wonders of life.
Deep in our consciousness lie fifty-one seeds (bīja) of mental formations—anger, fear, compassion, mindfulness, and more. Each time a seed is touched, its energy blooms and can overwhelm us unless we learn to guide it back into seed form through mindful breathing at the đan điền, uniting body and mind. Through Dharma discussions as organic gardening—identifying, watering, or weeding seeds—we share practical methods of transforming suffering into joy. In community, we learn to float on the boat of mindfulness and the Sangha, so that no storm of emotion can make us sink.
